£500,000 bill rung up on FO phone lost in Iraq

A satellite telephone belonging to the Foreign Office disappeared in Baghdad and was not reported missing until a bill of reportedly almost £500,000 had been rung up.

The phone was said to have been used to make calls to Yemen and Saudi Arabia, both known bases for al-Qaida, raising concerns that it might have fallen into the hands of insurgents, according to the Sunday Mirror. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We disbarred this phone from use on June 26. It is not clear how long the phone [was] missing and what costs were incurred before it was shut down."